"Grainy, blurry, and out-of-focus" photography (also called "are, bure, boke") doesn't immediately conjure up images of fine work. But, a new exhibition at the Crocker Art Museum explores the intentionally gritty style of photography that originated in post-WWII Japan, upon dramatic social and political changes due to the American Occupation, modernization, and rapid economic development. 

The Provoke Era: Japanese Photography from the Collection of SFMOMApresents more than 60 photographs and important publications from a collection that is recognized as one of the most important in the US. The exhibit refects artists' response to their country's socio-political upheaval, and a new visual language that challenged traditional concepts of national identity and documentary photography.

The exhibition is named for the magazine Provoke, first published in 1968 by a group of photographers and writers who propagated the “are, bure, boke” style. Although the controversial magazine lasted only three issues, Provoke profoundly changed the course of post-war Japanese photography. In its manifesto, Provoke declared that “[v]isual images are the reverse side of the world of language….A photographer’s eye can capture fragments of reality that cannot be expressed in language as it is.”

Many photographers whose work appeared in Provoke drew inspiration from influential artists like Eikoh Hosoe, whose "Kamaitachi" series uses a terrifying rural legend to comment on the horrors of World War II. Masahisa's series, "The Solitude of Ravens," uses blurry, black silhouettes of crows (traditionally a bad omen in Japan) against grainy skies. Fukase draws haunting parallels between the spread wings of a raven, the shadow of a bomber overhead, and the black hair of a schoolgirl whipping in the wind.

Daido Moriyama’s "Stray Dog" (1971) is perhaps the most recognizable image from the exhibition. Moriyama stated that he took the photograph spontaneously as he encountered a stray dog wandering and sunning himself. The low camera angle suggests an identifying connection between the photographer and his subject, while the close cropping of the image isolates the dog as a pariah, perhaps implying an uneasy relationship between rule-bound Japan and the outsider. The exhibition also includes the three issues of Provoke magazine and photo-books from this period, including Shomei Tomatsu and Ken Domon’s Hiroshima-Nagasaki Document 1961.

To shift your focus on photography, check out The Provoke Era: Japanese Photography from the Collection of SFMOMA at the Crocker Art Museum through February 1, 2015. 216 O Street, Sacramento.